A Guide to the History of Richardson, Texas: Cemeteries

Return to Home Page or Historic Sites or Outside Downtown NORTH TOUR

Historic Cemeteries in or near Richardson

STAGECOACH CEMETERY
a.k.a. Routh Cemetery or Spring Creek Burying Ground

Stagecoach Cemetery

From the forthcoming book, RICHARDSON: A History of One of the Biggest Small Cities in Texas

Up until just a few years ago, unless you already knew where it was located, it was somewhat difficult to find this old cemetery, which lay hidden from view in a thickly wooded area off N. Glenville Drive, near Spring Creek. Today, surrounded by modern apartment buildings on all sides, it is much easier to find. Known variously as the "Stagecoach Cemetery, "Routh Cemetery," or "Spring Creek Burying Ground," this graveyard, the oldest in Richardson, bears silent witness to pioneer settler Jacob Routh's generosity. Measuring a full acre in size, the land was donated by Routh for use by the public, at the urging of his neighbors.

Interestingly, when Routh arrived in the area to take possession of this property in November 1851, he discovered there had already been two burials at this place. One of these first graves, still marked to this day, was that of Mrs. Nancy Beverly, wife of one William Beverly. According to the inscription on her large gravestone, which stands in the center of the cemetery, Mrs. Beverly was born March 10, 1806 and died June 16, 1851. Nearby, slabs of white rock, long ago crumbled into dust, covered the grave of a little girl who had died of an illness while her family camped by Spring Creek. Recent arrivals in Texas, her parents moved on after they finished the sad task of burying their child. Their names, and that of their daughter, are unknown.

When it was new, the cemetery was probably unenclosed, Later, someone erected a tall chain-link fence topped with barbed wire, no doubt to protect the grave markers from vandals. For years, there were two gates-one on the north, and the other on the south-are usually securely locked. Signs on the gates warn, "Danger, Keep Out." Obviously, the gates, the barbed wire, and the signs are meant to deter vandals more than to warn of any potential danger. For many years, Henry Coit of Dallas, a descendant of Jacob Routh, looked after the cemetery. Today, volunteers from the Routh Cemeteries Association do what they can to keep the site tidy.

In 1998, a Texas Historical Commission, from which much of the information in the paragraphs above was obtained, was erected on site. In its entirety, it reads:

ROUTH CEMETERY

BROTHERS JACOB, GEORGE WASHINGTON, JOSEPH, AND THOMAS JEFFERSON ROUTH, AND THEIR SISTER ELIZABETH ROUTH. THOMAS, WERE COUSINS OF THE VANCE FAMILY WHICH HELD THE ORIGINAL LAND GRANT THAT ENCOMPASSED THIS SITE. JACOB ROUTH (1818-1879), A BAPTIST MINISTER, ACQUIRED THE 640 ACRE J. W. VANCE SURVEY IN 1851, AND BROUGHT HIS MOTHER AND OTHER RELATIVES FROM TENNESSEE TO TEXAS. THE ROUTH FAMILY WERE INSTRUMENTAL IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COMMUNITY SURROUNDING THEIR LAND. ROUTH FAMILY MEMBERS HELPED TO ORGANIZE A SCHOOL, CHURCH, AND STORE IN ADDITION TO THE FAMILY CEMETERY.

EARLY COLLIN COUNTY SETTLERS NANCY DE LOSIER BEVERLY (1806-1851) AND SEVEN-YEAR-OLD WILLIAM KLEPPER, ALONG WITH AN UNKNOWN CHILD WHOSE PARENTS WERE CAMPING NEARBY AT THE TIME OF ITS DEATH, WERE ALREADY BURIED ON THIS SITE WHEN JACOB ROUTH SET ASIDE ONE ACRE AS A FAMILY BURIAL GROUND. JACOB'S MOTHER, ELIZABETH MASHMAN ROUTH (1788-1852), DIED SOON AFTER HER ARRIVAL IN TEXAS AND WAS THE FIRST FAMILY MEMBER TO BE INTERRED HERE.
JACOB ROUTH, HIS WIFE LODEMIA ANN CAMPBELL, AND TWO UNMARRIED DAUGHTERS, ROSE AND CLARA ROUTH, ARE BURIED SEVERAL HUNDRED YARDS NORTH OF THE CEMETERY IN A PRIVATE PLOT. OF THE APPROXIMATELY TWO HUNDRED GRAVES HERE, FEWER THAN ONE HUNDRED ARE MARKED. THE LAST BURIAL TO OCCUR HERE WAS THAT OF SEREPTA ELLEN CAMPBELL MILLER, WHO WAS BORN IN 1836 AND DIED IN 1922. THE ROUTH CEMETERY CONTINUES TO SERVE AS A RECORD OF THE PIONEERS OF NORTH TEXAS.

Among the early settlers of the area that are buried here are, as the marker mentions, Jacob Routh's own mother, Elizabeth Mashman Routh (1788-Oct. 20, 1852), his son John C. Routh (who died at the age of thirty-three on October 22, 1867), and his younger brother, Joseph Routh (Oct. 10. 1822-Aug. 14, 1856). The markers of Elizabeth and Joseph stand side-by-side, with inscriptions that are barely legible after all the years that have passed. The stone marking little John Routh's grave has fallen from its upright position and lies flat on the ground, as do many of the markers throughout this tree-shaded plot. Some are badly in need of repair, having broken into two or more pieces. The grave of Routh's father-in-law, Robert Fleming Campbell (May l, 1804-November 18, 1881) is also here. Its marker, made of a bright white stone shaped into a tall column, is one of the most impressive. Other stones read like a "Who's Who" of early-day Plano, Richardson, and Garland, the latter two places being originally known as Breckenridge and Duck Creek, respectively, The markers bear these names: Baird, Barron, Beck, Berry, Binkley, Bunch, Coldwell, Drake, Fouche, Greene, Greer, Gough, Halsell, Harris, Hoskins, Johnson, Kennedy, Klepper, Leake, Lively, Lyles, Miller, Moreman, Moore, Moss, Pearce, Penman, Pickett, Pittman, Roberson, Robinson, Rowland., Sandifer, $kiles, Thomas, Wainscott, Wallace, Walters, Wood Yancey, and Young.

In addition to the marked graves, there are about a hundred that are unmarked, including those of itinerants and enslaved African-Americans, identified only by bois d'arc stakes or sunken earth, Black graves, as customary in those days, were kept separate from those of white people.

LOCATION: The Stagecoach Cemtery is located just off the north side of N. Glenville Drive, where after crossing E. Lookout Drive, the road curves toward the DART light rail tracks and the Hwy. 75-Central Expressway service road.